Outland Developer Concerned About Free PS3 Games

May 23, 2011

When the PlayStation Network returns members can download two free games, and some developers are concerned that it may affect sales for a little while. One of those developers, Housemarque, also has a title in that list of free games: Dead Nation.

"My biggest concern is whether people will come back to use the system and browse the PlayStation Store," Ilari Kuittinen of Housemarque told Edge. "On top of that, the second issue is that everyone now gets games for free (including our Dead Nation and Super Stardust HD), so people might just play the free games for a while. By the time they are ready to buy something, Outland is maybe old news."

The company recently released its game, Outland, on Xbox Live Arcade and is concerned that sales of the game will be unintentionally impacted by all the free games.

Kuittinen also pointed out that the decision to offer Dead Nation in the PSN "welcome back" program was a decision made by Sony and publisher Ubisoft. Housemarque wasn't involved at all.

Of course, consumers may not buy games from thePlayStation Store because of another reason: early fears about security and credit card fraud. Sony will have to earn back some trust before players start buying anything from the PlayStation Store. According to word on the street the PlayStation Store will be back online Tuesday, May 24.

Source: Edge by way of Kotaku

Comments

Re: Outland Developer Concerned About Free PS3 Games

Submitted by AnotherForumName on Mon, 05/23/2011 - 21:56.

I don't really follow his logic. More people in the store is more possible buyers. Although two of the games are a part of the free game program, doesn't that developer get some of the money? Doesn't Sony have to reimburse the developer for each free copy downloaded?

Re: Outland Developer Concerned About Free PS3 Games

Submitted by Michael Chandra on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 08:29.

He appears to be concerned people will only play the free games for now and won't buy any games until they're done with whatever free games they picked up. If those aren't his, then chances are they won't buy his afterwards, because it's already no longer a new thing.

Dunno about reimbursement, I'd assume yes, otherwise why would the publisher agree?

Re: Outland Developer Concerned About Free PS3 Games

Submitted by Craig R. on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 14:49.

I stated this myself days ago when Sony announced their free offerings.

Re: Outland Developer Concerned About Free PS3 Games

Submitted by hellfire7885 on Mon, 05/23/2011 - 13:55.

If the game is good then he shouldn't worry too much.

Re: Outland Developer Concerned About Free PS3 Games

Submitted by Kajex on Mon, 05/23/2011 - 15:46.

Perhaps, but it's still a business- he needs to be on guard for anything that might result in a loss of money, even if it seems trivial at first. And it's not like he doesn't have a legitimate reason to be irritated that the fact that it's free was not a decision that was in their hands.

 
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